9-15-2013 Another Day Trip

Leaving about 11 a.m. we drove north on I-55 to Kimmswick, MO, home of "The Blue Owl" Restaurant and Bakery. The "Sunday Special" was our choice for lunch: fried chicken, smashed potatoes with gravy, and sweet'n'creamy corn.  Glen had coconut cream pie and I had strawberry-rhubarb.  

Kimmswick is a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River about 20 miles south of downtown St. Louis.  Kimmswick was founded in 1859 after completion of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad.  

In 1970 Lucianna Gladney Ross, heir to the 7-Up company, had money to invest in a project. "As a child she and her family would travel to their summer home in Kimmswick."  After seeing the state and condition of the historical buildings (in the 1970's)  she decided to restore and revitalize the town of Kimmswick.

Today Kimmswick is a "flourishing river town, quaint and charming, filled with shops, restaurants, museums, log cabins, and history."

"The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery", home of the Famous Levee-High Caramel Apple Pecan Pie"

Anheuser Museum & Estate: built in 1867, the ancestral home of Fred and Mabel Ruth Anheuser and sits at the south end of the town of Kimmswick on the Mississippi River.

It takes two tugs to push this many barges; heading north on Mississippi River at Kimmswick, MO

Obviously very heavy load as two tugs are needed to push the barges.

We drove the scenic route back to Cape Girardeau.  Highway 61 was the major north-south highway before the establishment of I-55.  It isn't along the river, but does go through quaint small towns.